


Angel on Cardassia

by starprise_entership



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Post-Canon Cardassia, set in the far future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 21:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14198505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starprise_entership/pseuds/starprise_entership
Summary: It’s been a century since the Dominion left Cardassia, and the sole remaining Terran man on the planet has lived to a ripe old age.





	Angel on Cardassia

The crowd parts in the marketplace under the burning sun, and a thin, wiry old man plods through the crowd. He is led by his great-grandson, who can’t be more than six or seven years old, and the mother of the boy, who carries a basket in one hand and a purse in the other.

The old man gives a wry smile as he nods at the passers-by, acknowledging their greetings. Everyone in the province knows who he is, inevitably, for the Terran man’s been here for around a hundred years already. They know him as ‘the Terran Angel’, ‘Grandfather of the New State’, and a number of other reverent names. He does not take much pride in these names - he’s far too old for that, and he’s lost his arrogance a long time ago.

“ _Adik, adik,_ ” The young boy cries out in Kardasi, and then switches to Federation Standard when he remembers his great-grandfather behind him. “Slow down, he’s not catching up!”

“I’m more than capable of understanding a line or two of Kardasi,” The old man scoffs, amused. “But I’m glad to see that you’ve been picking up Federation Standard pretty well.”

“And you’ve been here a long, long, time,” The young boy points out. “Teach me more about the Federation, great-grandfather!”

“He can teach you much, much more about the Federation. Go and lead him to the bench over there,” barks the boy’s mother. “Apologies, _ya’adik_ ,” she says, using the Kardasi term out of respect. “He tends to speak too much.”

“Don’t leave him, Elim.” The woman gives one last instruction to her son before turning back to her grandfather.

“He’s just like Elim, in that aspect,” The old man muses. “He was quite a talker.”

His granddaughter gives a huff and crosses her arms. “Well, then I’m glad I’ve named my little rascal after him.”

“Ah, I do miss him.”

“Later, after I’m done with the shopping, we can go and visit him. Just as we do every year.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” The old man gives a nod, and heads towards the bench where he gently lowers himself down onto the bench next to his great-grandson. “So, Elim, what is it that you desperately want to know?”

The young boy swings his legs back and forth as he sits on the stone bench. “Tell me about our family. About us.”

“Well, I suppose a good place to start would be me, Julian. J-u-l-i-a-n.” He traces out each letter on the surface of the bench with a bony finger. The young boy looks on, mystified by the unfamiliar Federation lettering. “I should really teach you how to read Federation Standard. Don’t worry, you’ll catch on soon enough.”

“And great-grandfather Elim.” The young boy pipes up. “The man _adik_ named me after.”

“Yes. Elim.” Julian pauses for a moment, savouring the word. “Do you want to know how we met?”

“Oh, yes, please!” The boy sits forward, in for a treat.

“Well, up there,” Julian points a quivering finger to the sky, “there is a station. A station called Deep Space Nine.” He smiles, and then looks back at the boy. “I was stationed there when I was much younger. Much younger than this.” A tear gleams in his eye when he remembers that virtually all his friends have been long gone. He hasn’t heard from Ezri lately, but he hopes Dax is alive and well, wherever they are. And Odo, well, if communicating with the Great Link was possible without travelling to the Gamma Quadrant, he’d try it.

“How old were you? When you first met him.”

“Almost thirty, but I don’t think that’s important.”

“That’s a long time ago.” exclaims young Elim. “He must’ve took one look at your handsome face and fell in love with you.”

Julian gives a chuckle. “Well, it wasn’t as quick as that. We were friends at first. And then the Dominion War came and I realised that I didn’t want to die without him.”

“And then you went up to him and told him you loved him.”

“That’s just about how it went, I suppose.” Julian shrugs, amused. “We came to Cardassia after the war and that’s when Arys entered our family.”

“Grandmother Arys?” The young boy says, his voice wavering. “The one who…”

“Yes.” Julian replies, solemnly. The mention of Arys’ name brings up sadness, for she’s gone too. She outlived her father by thirty-five years. Killed in an accident in her own lab.

“She wasn’t very old yet, then, was she,” Elim laments. “That’s what adik told me.”

“She wasn’t much older than a hundred and twenty,” recalls Julian. “She could’ve still had a lot of time left.”

“And you?” Elim asks, his eyes widening. “You must be really, really old. And that’s a good thing here.”

“A hundred and sixty four,” Julian proclaims. “I must’ve broken some new Terran record, but nobody in the Federation cares about me enough to keep any tabs on me.”

“How long do Terrans live?”

“The lifespan’s getting longer, but when I was born the life expectancy came to about a hundred and thirty. I’m only living longer than most people because of something my parents did when I was a boy.”

“What did they do?” Elim prompts, curious.

Julian sighs before he continues with the anecdote - it’s going to have to come out eventually, and perhaps having little Elim know is a good thing. “They took me to a hospital and the doctors there did something to my genes. They made me stronger, faster, better. Increased my lifespan even. But it was wrong in the eyes of the Federation and I nearly lost my post at Deep Space Nine because of something I had no say over.”

Elim stares at him, wide-eyed. Then he picks up a withered hand in two of his and clasps it gently. “It’s okay.”

A smile turns up the corners of Julian’s mouth. “Thank you,” he says, and it comes out almost as a whisper.

“Tell me more. Tell me about Uncle Tolan and my mother.”

“Well, Tolan was my first grandchild, and your mother Gilana followed almost twenty years later. Elim was still around then, for a while. He died when she was fifteen.”

“Your Elim.”

“Well, you’re also my Elim, aren’t you?” Julian smiles, giving the young boy a pat on the shoulder. A bell rings at the corner of the street, getting the attention of the duo.

“Some sweet treats.” announces Julian, slipping a few coins into Elim’s hand. “Go get me something from there, won’t you?”

“What would you like, great-grandfather?”

“Anything you’d like.”

The mischievous young boy sets off towards the snack cart, twisting and weaving around the legs of people. This earns him a few loud shouts of frustration and annoyance, and it makes his heart sing.

“Oh, that one, please,” Elim says, pointing to a slice of fresh fruit, glimmering and juicy. “That one.” He presses the coins into the seller’s hand, and off he goes again.

“I got you something,” announces Elim. “It’s getting hot today, isn’t it?”

“Great-grandfather?”

Julian’s lazy hazel eyes focus on a point above Elim’s head, staring straight into nothing. His mouth hangs slightly open as he breathes, shallowly.

“Elim, Elim, are you there?” Julian’s voice comes out in a shaky whisper. “Elim?”

“I’m here, I’m here!” Elim says, his voice rising to a shout. “I’m right here, in front of you!”

“It’s been so long. Half a century without you,” Julian continues, delirious. “Half a century without you has been hard.” He coughs, struggling to stay awake. He presses a hand to his chest and coughs again. “And you, Arys.”

“Great-grandfather, what are you saying?” asks Elim, confused yet insistent. The crowds around seem to have stopped and their murmuring rises to a roar in Elim’s ears as he freezes, not knowing how to deal with the situation.

_“Oh, Holy Mother Cardassia.”_

_“What is it? Who is it?”_

_“The Terran angel. Oh dear, oh dear!”_

“Someone get a doctor!” hollers someone in the crowd, urgent. “And get the boy’s mother.”

“Great-grandfather.” cries Elim, grabbing hold of Julian’s free hand and cradling it in his two own. “Julian,” he cries, hesitantly, hoping to get his attention.

“Ah, yes, Elim.”

“Great-grandfather?”

“It’s time for me to go.”

“To go where?” Elim inquires. “To go where, great-grandfather?”

Julian’s expression is slightly distraught, and he breathes harder. “I don’t know, Elim. I’m sorry.”

Taking a deep breath, Elim sits down on the bench again, swinging his legs back and forth as he holds Julian’s hand even tighter. “It’s okay,” he assures, his soft voice cracking. “It’s okay.”

Julian gives a last weak hint of a smile. “Thank you.” He whispers, the words slipping from his lips peacefully.

Gilana pushes through the crowd with a doctor right on her heels. Rushing little Elim aside, she picks the boy up in her arms and turns his back towards his great-grandfather before he can say anything more. Elim stares, his eyes wide as he feels Julian’s limp hand slip from his.

“I’m sorry!” Elim wails. “I left him for two minutes to get him a snack. I didn’t know what would happen…” He takes a shaky breath. “I shouldn’t have left him.”

“Ssh.” Gilana hushes him, rubbing circles into his back. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“But he was calling my name. And telling me that he had to go somewhere. And then he mentioned Arys.” Elim argues, choking back sobs.

“He was calling out for his dear husband.” Gilana explains, getting emotional herself. “It happens sometimes. Come, Elim, we must get you home.”

“Go home? What about–“

“I must start making the arrangements. And inform any living friends he has.” Gilana says, flatly, without emotion. But a sharp breath follows, and several wet drops that fall on the shoulder of Elim’s tunic.

“And tell them what?” Elim asks. Usually, this tone of voice would register as curiosity, but Elim says it in a way that hints that he already knows what’s going to follow. He’s old enough to have a brief understanding of what comes after life.

“To tell them that my grandfather has passed on.” replies Gilana. “I’ll get our neighbours to bring you home first.”

Later, in the evening, when all is quiet, a message pops up on the News Feed. Like any other message, it scrolls past on the bottom of the broadcast screen, as discreet as any other message would be.

_The Terran Angel is at peace now._

 

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve used a few words from this brilliant Kardasi conlang on Tumblr, such as ‘adik’ for ‘mother’ and ‘ya’adik’ for ‘grandfather’. They didn’t have a term for ‘great-grandfather’, so I had to work around that somehow. This idea stemmed from [Kellec’s](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kellec/pseuds/Kellec) headcanons about this on Tumblr, so thank you there!


End file.
